by Moses Seenarine
Paper presented at a Brown Bag Lecture held by the Southern Asian Institute,
Columbia University, on April 10th, 1996.
1-1: Introduction:
This talk is based on my dissertation studies in the department of International
Education Development at Teachers College, Columbia University, which I hope to
conclude next year. The title of my thesis is Voices from the Subaltern:
Education and Empowerment Among Rural Dalit Women and Girls.
In a way, my thesis represents a lifelong interest in learning about caste and
gender issues. Growing up in the predominantly caste hindu guyanese society
during the 60s and 70s, from an early age I was made to feel inferior, and lower
caste, because of my family’s christian beliefs, dark skin color and lower
class status. As I grew older, I was deeply influenced by the economic hardships
and gender oppressions my grandmothers and mother faced in relations with their
husbands and male relatives. An increasing awareness of the importance for
understanding these issues led to my pursuing studies of gender and caste issues
in the field of education.
In the beginning of my dissertation studies, I was interested in exploring
problems related to rural dalit women’ and girls’ low educational status in
India. In many rural areas, 90 to 99 percent of dalit females are functionally
nonliterate. During fieldwork, I learned more about the triple oppressions rural
dalit females face in class, caste and gender subordination, and I began to see
how these issues interconnected at various levels to contribute to the low
levels of literacy. Myself and Sushila Patil, a female colleague, lived in Bidar
district, Karnataka, for five months and interacted with hundreds of dalit women
and girls at the village level during this time.
Limitations:
In my dissertation fieldstudy, I did not set out to do an evaluation of
affirmative action policies in India, from the critical perspective of a rural
dalit woman, as such. However, the preliminary findings from collected data
provides me with an understanding of the current status of rural dalit women and
girls on the ground, which I will used in this talk to contextualize a
discussion on the issue of affirmative action polices in India, and Karnataka
state, with a focus on understanding how these policies and programs influence
the lives of thirty-three (33) dalit female respondents and other females who
were interviewed in dalit communities of Bidar district. This talk is based on a
work in progress, and I haven’t done all the analysis of my data as yet. `I
will be glad to discuss any of your questions after the talk.
There are three main points pursued in this talk:
(1) The first main point is that the experiences of poor, rural dalit females
are different from those of other poor and rural groups, from other indian
women, and from dalit males. Consequently, the vast majority of affirmative
action policies and programs which are targeted towards the rural areas, the
poor, women or dalits do not necessarily reach perhaps the most disadvantaged
group - i.e., poor, rural dalit females.
(2) The second main point is that dalit females suffer from the interconnections
of multiple oppressions of class, caste, gender, and cultural at all levels
(household, village, district, state, national and global) by both men and
women, from all castes and classes.
(3) The third point is really a consequence of the first two points, i.e., that
affirmative action programs and policies should be designed specifically to
improve the status of rural dalit females, and that such policies and programs
need to take into account the specific nature of the interconnections of gender,
caste and class oppressions at all levels, along with the need to incorporate
dalit women and girls themselves into decision-making and leadership.
This talk consists of six sections. The first part (2-1) presents a brief
outline of dalits’ social and economic status in india The second part (3-1,
and 3-2) presents a short history and outline of affirmative action policies and
programs in India, followed by (3-3) a discussion of the advantages and
disadvantages that affirmative action programs may have for rural dalit females.
This is then contextualized by (4-1) a short a brief discussion of my fieldwork
and study design and (4-2) a discussion of the preliminary findings from my
study regarding the present status of dalit women and girls in Bidar district,
Karnataka, India. Finally, I will discuss my fieldwork findings on the problems
rural dalit women and girls have regarding a specific aspect of affirmative
action policy, i.e., access to educational facilities and programs (6-1).
1-2: Definitions:
In India, the traditional fourfold caste system, called varna, consists of
brahmins (the priestly caste), kshatriyas (the warrior caste), and vaishyas (the
trading caste) - all of whom are considered twice-born and are allowed to read
the holy texts. The fourth group, shudras (the servile caste) are not allowed to
read the holy books. Dalits were an even lower caste, the so called
"outcaste" or "untouchable" groups, whose very shadow was
considered polluting to caste hindus.
For example, the peshwas introduced especially limiting strictures on mahars
dalits, such as carrying pots for their own spittle and brooms to erase their
own footsteps from the road. Many untouchable groups could not draw water from
the wells and tanks used by the caste hindus. They were denied the use of public
roads and transport. Dalit women could not dress in the manner of other hindu
women nor could they wear jewelry, and were also exploited sexually by upper
caste men and as domestic labor by women of the upper caste.
Dalits may or may not be hindus; e.g., holiya and madiga are hindus; but so are
former "untouchable" converts to buddhism, christianity, islam,
sikhism and other religions. However, only "hindu" and sikh scheduled
castes can claim the benefits of reservation The marathi word dalit, was chosen
by the group itself and it means literally "ground," or "broken
or reduced to pieces".
However, in a sense, the term dalit is an imposed category, for many
"untouchable" and former "untouchable" groups do not
identify themselves with the term, and furthermore, none of the women and girls
in the study sample refered to here, identified themselves as such.
As an urban, american male member of the oppressor group, I do not claim to
represent the experiences of "the other" as "subaltern
female." Rather, in my academic work, I am simultaneously trying to do two
things. One is to improve our understanding of the issues important to, and for,
rural dalit women’ and girls’s improvement of status. The second is to act
as an advocate in the cause of dalit women’s liberation. In both these
efforts, it is my hope to create a space in which the voices of dalit women may
be heard in academia and elsewhere. Some of the issues surrounding researcher
bias and limitations of my fieldstudy will be discussed later.
Just as there is no single dalit female experience, dalit women are not a
homogenous group. There are separated by language, customs, religion,
sub-castes, etc. There are gradations and caste taboos among dalits themselves.
There are also forms of class stratification among Dalits sub-groups.
2-1: A brief outline of dalits’ social and economic status in india
Dalits are commonly clustered together in segregated hamlets at the edge of a
village. They are a small and vulnerable minority in any given region, making
resistance to exploitation and violence very difficult. Dalits constitute over
16 percent of the total indian population. The 1991 Census estimates the total
dalit population in india at 138 million, and in Karnataka state as seven and a
half million (7.5), or 16% of the total state population.
Dalits are not only a socio-cultural group but often represent an economic class
as well. The 1971 census figures show that over half of the dalit workforce were
landless agricultural laborers, compared to 26 percent of the non-dalit
workforce. A number of social studies have revealed that dalit women make up a
large number of the professional sex workers. Studies reveal that 90 percent of
those who die of starvation and attendant diseases are dalits. Their
untouchability and poverty support each other - their untouchable status
accentuates their economic exploitation and their poverty strengthen their
polluting social status.
Untouchability was made a legal offence by the indian parliament in 1955.
However, untouchability as a social institution was and is kept alive by the use
of brutal force. The caste hindus insisted on enforcing the inferiority of the
dalits in many ways, and if they tried to improve their standards of living they
were cruelly persecuted. Perhaps the most effective weapon which helped in the
perpetuation of the untouchability was the institutionalized bias and denial of
access to educational resources.
Untouchability is related to the oppression of upper caste women as well, as it
became an effective means of patriarchal/brahmanic control over high caste
women’s sexuality which was essential for maintainence of caste privilege. At
the same time, the potential threat to these systems of domination that the rape
of upper caste females by lower caste males represented, was negated by defining
offspring of such unions as untouchable. These same ideologies allowed upper
caste men to violate low caste women’s sexuality with impunity and without
consideration of issues around caste purity and female honor.
Even the process of sanskritization or approximation to upper castes’ code of
conduct, did not help dalits to cross the barriers of untouchability. Dalits all
over India have tried to change their lifestyles, marriage practices and caste
names but to no effect.
Alarmingly, for the past several years, official indian figures on violent
attacks against dalits have routinely exceeded 10,000 cases per year. Indian
human rights workers report a far larger number go unrecorded, buried by
collusion between police and local privilege. Justice is rare, even when charges
are filed.
3-1: A short history of affirmative action policies in india
In justification of affirmative action programs, the following principles should
be noted (1) compensatory principle - i.e., compensation for past injustices;
(2) protective principle - protection of the weaker sections of the community as
envisaged in Article 46 of the Constitution; (3) proportional equality; and (4)
social justice, under which concepts of distributive justice and utility are
included to a large measure, if not wholly. Due to limitations of time, a
discussion of the salience of these issues was left out from this talk.
The vast machinery of protective discrimination for the Scheduled Caste was
developed chiefly in the 1930s and ‘40s under the British. Services under the
state became the focus of attention for historical and economic reasons.
The Constitution of India provides for "reservations" in favor of two
disadvantaged groups - the scheduled castes (SCs) and the scheduled tribes (STs).
These reservations exist: (1) in the state legislatures and the union
legislature or parliament, (2) in services under the states, and (3) in
educational instutions. In addition, some states have reservations in services
under the state and in educational instutions in favor of other backward classes
(OBCs). Reservations coupled with other welfare programs constitute the core of
affirmative action for the uplift of these groups
Education. There has been a rise in educational access for dalits as a result of
the post- independence educational programs. Apart from reservations in
educational instutions, other major programs for their uplift include: (1)
exemption from school fees, (2) provisions for stipends or scholarships, (3)
provisions for facilities like book grants, and (4) maintenance of hostels, or
assistance to hostels for SC students.
The central government sponsors: (1) college scholarships, (2) award of travel
grants and (3) 7.5 percent reservation in favor of SCs in merit scholarships.
The programs also provide for assistance by way of special coaching for SC
students residing in hostels and preexamination coaching facilities for SC
students appearing in competitive examinations.
Policies for dalit women focused on programs like gifts of money for marriages
in which one partner is an untouchable, support for housing projects, and legal
machinery for suits against discriminative practices, and so on.
3-3: Why, after 40 years of various affirmative action policies and programs,
there remains very little improvement in the socio-economic status of dalit
females?
(1) Corruption at all levels. Poor receive less than 10% of actual funding.
(2) There are caste, gender, class, urban and age bias in policies and programs.
(3) The fact of of dalit women’s experiences and multiple oppressions being
different from other groups.
Due to caste and gender related privileges, dalit men from a few SC sub-caste
groups are chief beneficiaries of affirmative action programs for SCs. Dalit
women have limited access to caste benefits - as do the most disadvantaged caste
groups, due to class stratification and priviledge among dalit sub-groups.
Affirmative action programs for the poor and other class-based benefits go
mainly to men from a few urban, sub-class groups. Rural dalit females, as
members of the most class disadvantaged group, are the one who receive the least
in terms of these class-based programs.
Urban based male dalit children are the primary beneficiaries of programs for
disadvantaged children. Although there are more urban dalit females working as
child laborers, like rural dalit girls, they remain invisible.
Programs for the rural areas are biased towards men who own land and are from
caste hindu groups. Rural dalit females seldom have access to land and other
land-based schemes. This was the case of OBCs in Karnataka, where the issue of
reservation as an issue and solution to persistent inequalities has been
co-opted by the landed caste hindu, lingayat and vokkaliga groups, who now
command half to the 50 percent reservation for OBCs in Karnataka state.
Affirmative action programs for women are dominated by upper caste hindu and
biased towards their gender, religious, and cultural issues. In terms of other
religious-based programs, like christian, sikh, and so on, each is bias to help
dalits who may be converted to their religion. The majority of rural, hindu-dalit
females are seldom benefited.
Education: Chitnis further refers to the following problems in dalits’ access
to education: (1) reluctance of prestigious educational institutions to reserve
admissions, (2) inability of students admitted under reservations to cope with
academic requirements, (3) restrictions of admissions to the economic elite from
among the scheduled castes, (4) a highly uneven representation of different SC
groups in education, (5) cheating and misrepresentation in the use of the
facility of reservations, and (6) a growing resentment against SCs on the part
of the non-SC groups.
3-4: Victims of Affirmative Action policies:
Untouchability continues: Some aspects are discussed.
(1) past discrimination continues in more subtle ways into the present; (2) the
rapid economic deterioration among the rural poor caused by the effects of the
New Economic Policy (NEP) and the increasingly repressive forms of caste and
gender oppression on dalit females, (3) the continued economic basis of
discrimination by middle class/caste control over low class Dalit women, etc.,
including dalit females’ economic exploitation of being paid even the
starvation level minimum wage, absence of land reforms; and so on, (4) the
existence of dalit partiarchy and upper and. (4) the existence of an ideological
basis for discrimination as the root cause of the problem - legitimized by male
brahmanical structures and so on, and finally (5) the silencing of dalit voices
in cultural, political, historical, spiritual spheres. As a result of all of the
above, the participation of Dalit women in organized sectors is considerably low
or negligible.
Dalit women’s bodies have been the special targets of population control
programs, in a bid to limit their family size and so provide them an
‘opportunity for development.’ Horror stories have been related by dalit
women of how they and their sisters have been butchered in ‘family planning
camps,’ often without their knowledge of what is being done to them.
Injectable contraceptives and other hormone drugs are tested on these powerless,
voiceless women by unscrupulous multi-national business
Zelliot (1992) argues that these measures inhibited the emergence of a new
Mahatma decrying passionately against remaining injustices, or the development
of a separatist dalit leader capable of building a movement outside the wall of
government privilege and patronage. These privileges have also walled off the
continuing problems of the dalits from the Indian consciousness
The are issues of social cleavages, both traditional ones and those stemming
from protective discrimination policies, that have developed among dalit
communities, and larger questions of the growing class stratification among
dalits and its relation to reservations, as well as the reluctant efects on the
dalit political movement. However, these issues are beyond thescope of this
paper.
The caste hindu backlash against dalit women in Karnataka.
In Karnataka, of the atrocities that occur in the backlask against dalits
females - rape, public humiliation and violence are used as coercive methods of
control and forms of domestic terrorism. For example, on September 6th, 1988 in
a village of Karnataka state, the powerful caste hindus went to a dalit
household, beat-up the son, looted the house and dragged out the teenaged
daughter Geeta, and raped in front of Dr. Ambedkar’s statue. The reason cited
in the Indian Express newspaper was that the uppercaste hindus do not tolerate
the prosperity of dalits.
4-1: Dissertation fieldstudy
Study Design:
As I said earlier, in this study, I was trying to explore the nature of dalit
females’ access to education and its relation to their empowerment.To
facilitate access to dalit women at the village level, I selected the Dutch
funded Mahila Samakhya project which targets disadvantaged rural women in five
states, and saught the premission of the national directors to interview dalit
women involved with the program in Bidar district, Karnataka. I then had to
obtain permission from the program’s state and district offices.
The specific research methods employed in data gathering are participant
observation, interviews, and content analysis. Participant observation methods
comprise of varying degrees of participation in my observation of Dalit women
and girls and rural communities, stimulated by respondents and their activities.
Interview methods consist of open-ended, structured interviews as well as
informal discussions following a general topics guide. Content analysis
encompass examination of the literature, documentation on socio-economic and
cultural aspects of the district, program reports and newsletters, and so on,
with an emphasis to understanding Dalit women’s condition in the district and
the collective social and ideological images of Dalit women as they have been
shaped by the society and with which the women being interviewed must deal..
Research Limitations
Gender issues presented major challenges to this study. The researcher lived at
the field site for most part of a year with a female Indian-American middle
class/caste graduate student who acted as collaborator; and worked closely with
two local lower middle caste/class young women from Bidar who acted as
interpreters. Working in conjunction with a female collaborator was vital in
negotiating some of the limitations related to gender - for example, issues
around female modesty and gaining access to translators, respondents, and so on.
Care was taken to ensure that Dalit girls and women felt comfortable talking
among other women and the male researcher about issues of common interests.
Although I worked with three (3) females, there were class and caste
differences, so every attempt was made to be respectful, empathetic, trustworthy
and reciprocal in our negotiations and interactions with respondents regarding
data collection.
Particular efforts were made to "de-caste" and "de-class"
ourselves in dress, appearance, behavior, travel, and so on. For example, the
researcher, collaborator, and interpreters wore simple clothes and jewelry in
order to make respondents more comfortable in talking to us; we disregarded
caste taboos against Dalits in personal contact and activities such as eating
together and so on; we were modest in consumption habits, used buses and other
economical forms of transportation to visit villages, and so on.
Language is an important weakness of this study. Recognizing that there are
often variations in language use and meanings within districts, and across class
and caste, the researcher was careful in the selection and training of local
interpreters. Also multiple interpreters and transcribers, and cross-translation
of taped interviews and documents, are used to make up for some of the
constraints related to language.
Sample:
The study design contains two major data sources. This distinction in data
sources is necessary to capture different perspectives on benefits and problems
involved in Dalit women's and girls' education and empowerment. The major data
sources are related to: 1) Dalit females and their families; and, 2) program
staff and program documentation regarding Dalit women’s education and
empowerment.
A purposeful, stratified sample of 33 Dalit women and girls was selected, out of
a total of 7,000 female participants involved with the Mahila Samakhya program
in the district, representative of different ages, and the communities and
families from which they come. A sample of 10 program administrators and staff
was also selected, representative of district, state and national levels of the
program. Given the problem being investigated, field research and data
collection focused on selected sub-themes and topics in two general categories
related to:1) Dalit women's and girls' education and experiences; and, 2)
selected socio-economic and cultural aspects of Dalit females.
4-2: Findings:
This section of the paper will try to communicate in broad strokes the emerging
used in my data analysis, including information on dalit women and girls’
social status, socio-economic status of respondents’ family, gender status,
caste status, education, and reasons for school dropout.
Social and Economic Status of Family:
The sample includes thirty-three (33) dalit women and girls from twenty (20)
different villages. The age range of respondents vary from 10 years old to 54
years old, with average age of twenty-two (22) years.
The family size of respondents’ families range from three (3) members to
eleven (11) members in a single household, with the average family size of
respondents’ families being seven (7) members. There is an average of three
(3) daughters and two (2) sons in respondents’ households. The implications
are the use of dalit female bodies driven by dalit families’ own desire for
sons and maximum number of children as economic and social resources.
In terms of economic status, data was gathered on land and livestock ownership,
among respondents’ families. Nineteen (19) of the thirty-three (33) dalit
females come from families who either own or sharecrop land. Sixteen (16) dalit
females come from families who own land, while sixteen (16) females, or 50
percent of respondents come from families who are landless. Almost all the land
holdings are marginal - the average size of land being less than four (4) acres
among land owning families; with seven (7) acres being the most amount of land
owned by any one dalit family.
Twenty (21) one dalit females, or 75 percent of respondents’ families own a
small number of livestock (cows, buffaloes, goats and chickens), while seven (7)
females, or 25 percent, are from families who do not own domestic animals.
Occupational data on respondents and their’ families reveal that most worked
as coolies, or seasonal day wage laborers, although several had multiple
occupations. Twenty-eight (24) dalit females, or over 90 percent of respondents
worked as coolie laborers, one (1) as a farmer, and two (2) as outreach workers
for the Mahila Samakhya program. In addition to coolie work, three (3) females
worked, as daycare teachers and, five (5) as night school teachers for the
Mahila Samakhya program in their village.
To understand historical continuties and changes among dalit females, interviews
with respondents’ parents were conducted. Among respondents’ mothers, twenty
(20), or over 90 percent worked as coolie laborers, two (2) as farmers and one
(1) as a homemaker. Among respondents’ fathers, eleven (11), or 50 percent
worked as coolie laborers, five (5) as farmers, four (4) as masons, one (1) as a
cook, one (1) as a tailor, one (1) as a factory worker and union leader. Among
the ten (10) married women, four (4), or 50 percent of husbands worked as coolie
laborers, one (1) as a farmer, one (1) as a mason, one (1) as a driver, and one
(1) as an electrician.
Interpretation:
One point that emerged in these interviews with parents is that dalit females
often followed in their mother’s footsteps, in the sense that their mother’s
legacy of exploitation and disadvantage remain unchainged.
Caste Status:
In terms of caste identity, Six (6) females identified themselves as dalit
christians; three (3) as hindu-holiya; two (2) as hindu-madiga; and the rest as
simply scheduled castes (Scs) or harijans. A few SC females come from families
who are buddhists.The prevalence of residential segregation is suggested by
respondents who all reside in the SC colony in the village.
Many respondents indicated that there was casteism and discrimination against
dalits in the village related to environmental, economic and cultural resources.
For exampe, in terms of access to environmental resources, one 14 year old girl
said, "the high caste people will not allow us to go to their borewell for
water."
In terms of access to economic resources, a sixteen (16) year old female
indicated that female dalit agricultural laborers had to beg high caste
landowners for their salary. One eighteen (18) year old young woman said, "
we used to borrow money and the higher caste used to charge us more and more
interest." As regards to casteism and socio-cultural segregation, an
eighteen (18) year old said, "in the village, the high caste people never
allow us into the Hanuman temple," while another woman indicated that dalit
were not allowed into the upper caste community in the village. An older woman
said that when she was a girl, "due to casteism there was no school for SCs
in the village."
Several females said that, among other things, there are caste-related and other
problems between dalit women themselves; between muslims, lingayats and dalits;
and between dalit christians and hindu dalits. Several females said that all
marriages occur within each dalit sub-caste and there are no inter-caste
marriages among dalit sub-groups.
Gender Status:
Dalit women are themselves part of the process, systems, institutions and
ideologies of Indian patriarchy and brahmanization which serve to keep ninety
percent of dalit women nonliterate, socially oppressed and poor. However, dalit
women and girls never were, and are not now, passive victims in this process of
upper caste/class male hegemony, but are active resistors and victors in
managing their own lives and their families’ survival.
In Bidar, I encountered dalit women and girls who are constantly resisting
oppression as dalits, and as women, in a variety of individual and collective
actions. Their struggle to gain access to education is, but one example, of
their individual and collective agency and empowerment within the dalit family
and village community. Due to limitations of time, etc., I will only focus on
issues which emerged from the women and girls themselves, as regards to forms of
dalit patriarchy and gender oppression.
Twenty three (23) of the thirty-three (33) females in the sample are single, and
ten (10) women had child marriages ranging from seven (7) years old to sixteen
(16) years old. Of the married women, two (2) women separated from their
husbands and one (1) woman is widowed. Three (3) women said that they got
married to a close relative, uncle or cousin; and two (2) occurances of polygamy
was found, due to one wife’s inability to give birth to sons.
Growing up, almost all the women and girls spoke of having to do housework along
with childcare and fieldwork in the hot sun. Many girls said that they were
discriminated as a girl child in lack of free time to play and in limited access
to education as compared to their brothers. Many girls and women mentioned their
limited mobility and inability to travel outside the village alone and
unaccompanied by husbands, and a few girls said they were not allowed outside of
the house. A few girls indicated that they were discriminated as girls in terms
of physical abuse, unequal nutrition and limited personal items. A few girls and
women spoke of their fathers’ and husbands’ acoholism and related domestic
violence.
Many of the married women indicated that early child marriage led to their
husbands’ and in-laws’ control. These women spoke of the sexual division of
labor in terms of women’s double burden, inside and outside of the home and
unequal pay for equal work as coolie laborers and so on. Many of the unmarried
girls suggested that other dalit village women were part of their gender
oppression. In the words of one eighteen (18) year old young woman, "they
will tease mother because of not doing marriage for us girls." Several
women mentioned that having the responsibility of childcare during fieldwork
prevents them from obtaining employment.
Many women and girls reported that dowry is a common practice among dalits. This
leads to lower status in the family as females become an economic burden on
families. A few respondents mentioned incidences of dowry related violence
against dalit women and girls. Four (4) incidences of other dalit women’s
"suicide" was mentioned by some respondents.
Education:
The sample of female dalit in my study is biased in the sense that all the women
and girls were involved with the educational programs of the Mahila Samakhya
program. Therefore, the educational data on respondents reveal that most had
some access to lower primary school education. Twenty-three (23) females or 75
percent, of the respondents attended public school, with an average education
level of 4th grade, while eight (8) females, or 25 percent are non-literate and
never attended school.
In contrast to dalit respondents’ access to lower primary education, only
three (3) of the respondents’ mothers attended school with an average
education level of 5h grade education, while twenty-three (23) of the
respondents’ mothers, or over 90 percent are nonliterate and never attended
school. Educatonal data is incomplete regarding seven (7) respondents’
mothers.
Nine (9) respondents’ fathers attended school with an average education level
of 5h grade, while eighteen (18) respondents’ fathers, or over 65 percent are
nonliterate and never attended school. Educatonal data is incomplete regarding
six (6) respondents’ fathers.
5-1: Dalit females suffer from the interconnections and variations of class,
caste, gender, and cultural oppresion at all levels (household, village,
district, state, national and global) by both men and women from all castes.
These issues will be examined in relation to Dropout:
School dropout for girls is due to a combination of inter-related factors,
including those around schooling, age, class and gender. Corporal punishment by
male teachers was suggested as a reason for dropout by a few girls. This school
factor may be related to gender issues such as respondents’ fear of physical
abuse, or violence aginst women, in school. A few girls cited personal health
and illness as reasons for dropout. Due to these as well as other factors, a few
girls said that they lost interest in schooling.
Two inter-related schooling factors referred to by many respondents as reasons
for their dropout include the distance to school coupled with a lack of
transportation to school. The distance to school for girls is a complicated
issue related to several other factors besides the actual space and
transportation - such as gender, age and caste. Several respondents noted dalit
women’s and girls’ lack of mobility in terms of not being able to travel
outside of the village alone after a certain age due to threat of violence or
notions of purity and honor, etc. Problems with transportation to school include
unpredictable bus schedule cited by some, and lack of fare and other class
issues mentioned by a few others. One teacher noted that girls who lived even a
short distance away in the same village were not allowed to walk home alone at
night and so were unable to attend night school in the village.
The age related factors were important for all respondents in terms of girls not
being allowed by parents, relatives and villagers to attend school after a
certain age, usually after their first menstruation. This may be due to
insecurity regarding pregnancy and the social stigma of sexual assult, and so
on. A few girls who dropped out early but then wanted to continue afterwards
revealed that were told that they were too old to sit with younger children.
Economic related factors were mentioned by a majority of respondents. Many girls
said they had to go for wage work to their support family. Others said they had
the responsibility of child care in the fields and at home to free their mother
for wage work. A few women said that, as poor families, they lacked the money
for school supplies like slates, pencils, writing books, clothing, and so on.
Almost all respondents mentioned gender related factors such as domestic
responsibilities of housework, childcare, etc. Their families’ lack of water,
food, wood for fuel and other basic resources also prevent dalit girls from
attending school.
The most common reasons for dropout given are gender related. Gender oppression
such as child marriage interupted schooling for many dalit girls. All the
females in the sample related in the words on one, "girls were not allowed
to be educated." Literacy teachers in the sample all indicated that
husbands scolded their wives and themselves for "trying to learn their
wives something." Fathers, mothers, uncles and grandparents were against
dalit girls education. Other village people were also against Dalit girls
becoming educated.
Patriarchy in the dalit household. Girls education viewed as threat to
patriarchy. Education for female considered a waste since it is customary form
them to leave her family’s home and the family have to pay for her dowry,
while benefits of daughter’s education go towards in-laws- household. Ont the
other hand, sons supposedly remain and are viewed as investments.
Schooling issues.
In village public schools, dominated by caste hindu ideology, dalit girls are
denied knowledge of their history, culture, arts, and so on.
Victims of affirmative action.
For example, the main beneficiaries of affirmative action in education for the
scheduled castes in post-secondary education were dalit men- who may be adopting
upper caste norms in demanding higher dowry from the girls’ family. However,
the rise in education among dalit males at all levels, (primary, secondary,
vocational and college) could be related to the rise in dowry deaths among dalit
women. Also, educated dalit women find it hard to find a marriage partner as
educated females are considered a threat by the in-law family.
Literacy as anti-women.
The purpose being family planning. Ignoring and suppressing women’s
traditional modes of communication.
7-1: Conclusion:
The general trend to look to reservations in educational institutions and in
jobs as the main plank of affirmative action has led to a tendency toward the
neglect or lack of emphasis on the problems that affect the poorest of poor in
these groups. Two problems come to mind in this context: first is the problem of
women’s labor and status, and the second is the enforcement of the minimum
wages in agriculture. The mention of these does not imply the underestimation of
other problems, like making provision for drinking-water facilities in villages.
There are three main points pursued in this talk.
(1) The first main argument is that the experiences of poor, rural dalit females
are different from those of other poor and rural groups, from other Indian
women, and from dalit males.
(2) The second main argument is that dalit females suffer from the
interconnections and variations of class, caste, gender, and cultural oppresion
at all levels (household, village, district, state, national and global).
(3) The third point is really a consequence of the first two arguments, i.e.,
that affirmative action programs and policies should be designed specifically to
improve the status of rural dalit females, and that such policies and programs
need to take into account the specific nature of the interconnections and
variations of gender, caste and class oppressions at all levels.
By recognising the seriousness of women’s participation in politics, in the
year 1987 the Janata Government in Karnataka announced 25 percent reservation
for women in Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat, as per Zilla Parishad Act
1932, with a special provision of 5:1 ratio reservation to dalit women in 25
percent women reservation, which is a very important and significant aspect. Due
to this reservation a number of dalit women had an opportunity to take part in
active politics. 19 dalit women against 211 upper caste women in Zilla Parishad
and 2469 dalit women against 14025 upper caste women in Mandal Panchayats were
elected. The participation of these representatives in active politics varies. A
few women have really showed good performance in the participation. But with
their social and economic background, low level of education and lack of
political consciousness becomes self-defeating as the male dalit political
representatives who are victimized and used as tokens.
Source
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